Mark R. Cheathem Andrew Jackson, Political rhetoric, Presidents

Presidents Say the Most Interesting Things

R. Luke DuBois has created a fascinating visual representation of presidential State of the Union addresses (also known as annual messages until FDR's administration). HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20/20 takes the State of the Union addresses from each presidency and sorts them according to word frequency, generating a Snellen eye chart for each president, with the … Continue reading Presidents Say the Most Interesting Things

Mark R. Cheathem Alexander Hamilton, Early Republic, Michelle Bachmann, Political rhetoric, Slavery, Tea Party, Tennessee

Humpty Dumpty History

In a an editorial last month, Stanley Kutler criticized American political conservatives for misusing history for their own purposes: Serious history, serious scholarship and serious discussion of facts and ideas are dismissed with tunnel vision. In Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” Humpty Dumpty scornfully said “when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to … Continue reading Humpty Dumpty History

Mark R. Cheathem Aaron Burr, Election of 1800, John Adams, Political rhetoric, Thomas Jefferson

If You Think the 2010 Political Season Was Nasty . . .

Be glad you didn't live during the presidential campaign of 1800: